Last Minute Changes / News

Mon, 29-March : "rule of 6" club walks resume.
Mon, 12-April : pubs (outside) open
Mon, 17-May : normal club walks resume

Annual Events

Jan	Canary Wharf Light Festival
Feb	Snowdrops: SWC 353 - Knebworth Circular
Mar	Wood anemones: Book 1, Walk 15 - Leigh to Tunbridge Wells
Apr	Azaleas: 1-18: Sunningdale to Windsor - in Saville Gardens (Windsor): also Isabella Plantation (Richmond Park)
May	Bluebells : Late April-early May: 2 - 5ab: Tring to Berkhamsted via Dockey Wood and Flat Isley;  1 - 9: Shiplake to Henley via High Wood and Greys Court;  2 - 13e: Guildford to Boxhill; 1- 47: Ockley to Warnham.......and many more (see our Nature Blog) Early May: for late bluebells plus rhododendrons and azaleas: 1-42: Holmwood to Gomshall via Leith Hill Rhododendron Wood Ashwell at Home - for open gardens - Baldock Circular (SWC 91) - usually about the 2nd Sunday in May (on May 16th in 2021) Cow Parsley:  SWC 91- Baldock Circular ;  1-8: Bures to Sudbury
Jun	Apple Blossom: 1-28: Chilham to Canterbury;  SWC 299 - Teynham to Faversham;  1-36: Borough Green to Sevenoaks Buttercups: 1-8: Bures to Sudbury;  SWC 190 - Thame Circular Oxeye daisies: 1-10: Beaconsfield Circular  Leigh on Sea folk festival ~ late Jun Poppies: 2-22: Amberley to Arundel
Jul	Sandwich folk festival ~ 4 & 5 July Lavender: Late July - Short 23 - Banstead to Woodmansterne; 1-36: Borough Green to Sevenoaks ; also in Letchworth Garden City
Aug	Pride Parade in Brighton: ~ 1st Sat in Aug Heather: 1-27: Milford to Haslemere
Sep	Heather - and berries, fruits and nuts. Start of fungi (mushrooms) in woods
Oct	Deer Rut - Bushy Park, Richmond Park Sussex Bonfires - Oct and Nov. Late October - early November: autumn leaf colour: SWC 140 - Wendover Circular via the Lee and Swan Bottom;  1-45: Princes Risborough to Great Missenden; 1-47: Ockley to Warnham
Nov	Brokham Bonfire, Lewes Bonfire, many "smaller" ones in Sussex
Dec	Christmas Fair: 1-7: Garston to St Albans
Note:	For a more comprehensive list of SWC walks with flowers, particularly our bluebell walks, please see the Nature Pages / Where to Find Wild Flowers

Scotland: Roybridge

Due to current advice from the Government and BMC to stay home (and off mountains), the trip to Roybridge planned for 16 May to 23 May 2020 has been postponed to 22-29 May 2021. The trip will go ahead as originally planned at that time.
For more information on the area, see Roybridge information. For more information about the trip and to check availability, please contact goepfertkarenATyahooDOTcom.

Evening Walk - NOW CANCELLED DUE TO LONDON BEING PUT INTO TIER 4

Christmas Lights Walks: The West End

 

Length: play it by ear

Net Walking Time: flexible

 

Meet: Charing Cross Station (outside the mainline station in the forecourt, between the station building and the Strand) at 18.30 hours.  

Finish: play it by ear  

Drop-Outs: various tube stations, or buses.

 

Map-led by the SWC resident Xmas Lights Expert (aka Mr. Google-Maps), a meandering tour through the West End, while trying to avoid some mega-busy sections and roads.

Note: if more than 6 people turn up, we will split into groups and walk at safe distance from each other

Eat/Drink: we should be able to find takeout options for either.  

For walk directions or a map, bring an A-Z or an online map.

Cancelled Sunday Walk - Riddlesdown to Coulsdon South

sorry, cancelled as tier4, andrew

L=2.15

Standard Walk: 16.8km (10.4 miles)

Shortening the walk: By using the short cut to Chaldon Church at the point indicated in the text 1.7km after the Fox pub (at point [4]), you can cut 4.3km (2.6 miles) off both the main walk and the circular option below.

Alternative circular walk from Coulsdon South: By starting at Coulsdon South, you can make the walk slightly shorter to 14.2km (8.8 miles).

Considering that it starts in the suburbs of London (and within the boundaries of London Transport Travelcard zone six), this walk passes through some remarkably unspoilt countryside. Farthing Down, Kenley Common, Riddlesdown and Cousldon Commons are all ancient grazing lands, lovingly preserved as part of the London Greenbelt, and offering a delightful series of woods and open spaces. It is a fine walk for a brisk winter's day.

Trains: There are options to travel overground from St Pancras, London Bridge and Victoria.

From Victoria, take the 9:51 East Grinstead train (CJ 9:58, E.Croydon 10:09) arriving Riddlesdown 10:17.

From St Pancras, take the 9:26 train (London Bridge 9:41) to East Croydon where you change to connect to the 10.09 to Riddlesdown.

If doing the Coulsdon circular, take the 10:11 St Pancras train (10:26 London Bridge) get to Coulsdon South at 10:50. The 10:15 from Victoria (change E Croydon for 10:41 Three Bridges Train) also gets there at 10:50.

Return trains from Coulsdon South xx:09, xx:39 to St Pancras, xx:20 to Victoria

Both stations are in zone 6 so a travelcard may be the best option

On arrival, set off in small groups (no more than six), allowing gaps between each departure. You will be asked to provide your email address for contact tracing purposes. Exchange contact details with those in your group. In the event that you develop COVID symptoms in the week following the walk, please email/text the people you walked with and email swc.wanderer@gmail.com  Your contact details will not be shared with anyone.

Lunch: The Fox pub is closed so best to bring a packed lunch and any other refreshments you might need.

L=2.15

Knockholt Circular

Length: 18.5km (11.5 miles)

10.04 train from Charing Cross (10.07 Waterloo East, 10.13 London Bridge) to Knockholt, arriving 10.49 T=3.7

For walk directions click here, for GPX click here, for a map of the route click here.

Best ticket: Oyster or contactless: don't forget to tap in/out at Knockholt, which is easy to do

Under tier rules we are still allowed to meet outside in groups of no more than six, and to travel within the boundaries of London. This walk starts from a very isolated rural station, which is nevertheless in zone six, and apart from a very short section (which could be avoided by the scrupulous, but which actually goes across a deserted golf course), takes place entirely within the boundaries of the London Borough of Bromley. 

We must split into groups of six at the start, and you can expect no lunch facilities, unless the pubs in Downe or Cudham are doing takeaways. Coolings Garden Centre near the end may offer takeaway teas.

Trains back are at 13 and 43 past the hour

Saturday Walk Guildford Circular with Hog's Back start - CANCELLED due to restrictions on travel following London's (new) Tier 3 Covid status

Book 2, Walk 12ab) - Guildford Circular with Hog's Back start

CANCELLED - sorry

T=2.12

Christmas Party - December 17 at 8pm

What difference a year makes! Who would have thought that 'Keep Calm and Carry On', a war time slogan from 1939,  would resonate so well in today's world. We carried on, in a bubble of six, on walks and on trips, when permitted.

Today, we celebrate another year of success of this wonderful club. We pay our gratitude and say thanks to our webmaster, walk posters and trip organisers for their incredible hard work. 

We will meet virtually this year via Zoom.  

There will be a quiz, so brush up your knowledge of books 1 and 2 and show us your true talent.  There will be a prize for the winner.  To participate in the quiz, please see 'Instructions for Quiz' below. 

The first part of the Zoom party will be structured and moderated.  This will be followed by socialising in smaller groups via breakout rooms.  You will need to update your Zoom software to participate in breakout rooms otherwise you will be stuck in the main room.  Instructions for breakout rooms are also given below. 

For security reasons, we will not be posting the Zoom link on the website.  Instead, we will rely on an email system where the link will be first sent out by a few people who have organised events in the past and have a large percentage of email addresses of the club regulars.  Once you receive the link, you should forward the link to other club members who you know.  There is a high chance you may receive duplicate emails with the Zoom link.   But the small inconvenience of deleting duplicate emails is more than compensated for by being a popular person among your fellow walkers!  Clearly, this system will inevitably miss a small number of people.  For those people, please email swcsocialATgmailDOTcom.  A volunteer  will vet the person and send the link.  Please do not request the link until Dec 14 at the earliest as most people would have received a link to the party by then.

Merry Christmas Everyone!  Let us hope we can go back to a normal Xmas party in 2021. 

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Instructions for Quiz 

For the quiz, you will need to have two screens when the moderator asks you to.  The easiest way to do this is to use your phone as the second screen.  Alternatively, have two screens open simultaneously in the desktop. The quiz questions will be presented on Zoom and you enter your answers using the second screen.  There will be some dummy questions at the start, so you can get the hang of it before the real competition begins. 

On your second screen

(1) Enter the web address www.kahoot.it  

(2) Enter the game pin (this will be given by the moderator and displayed on the Zoom screen)

(3) Enter your name in Kahoot

(4) When a question is shown on Zoom, enter your answer in Kahoot    

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Instructions for Breakout Rooms 

Once you have enabled this function in Zoom, you should be able to move freely between breakout rooms and between the main room and any of the breakout rooms.  

(1) Update your Zoom to the latest version, ver 5.4.3 or later. Click here if you need help.

(2) In the Zoom meeting screen, there should be a 'breakout rooms' icon at the bottom of the screen. 

(3) Click 'breakout rooms', you should see several breakout rooms, named breakout room 1, 2, 3 etc. 

(4) Select the breakout room  you wish to join (say room 1), click 'Join' button, you have now entered the breakout room 1 and can socialise with people in that room

(5) If you wish to leave the breakout room 1, click 'Leave' button to go back to the main room

(6) If you wish to go to another breakout room without going back to the main room,  click the 'breakout rooms'  icon, select another room (say breakout room 2) and click 'Join'.  You will now be in breakout room 2.      

Wednesday Walk Garston to St Albans - CANCELLED due to restrictions on travel following London's (new) Tier 3 Covid status.

Book 1, Walk 7 - Garston to St Albans

CANCELLED - sorry

T=1.7

Evening Walk - One last walk...before Tier 3: Royal Parks (w/o Kensington Gardens)

Length: approx. 6.0 km

Net Walking Time: 1 ½ hrs

 

Meet: Lancaster Gate Station (at street level on Bayswater Road) at 18.30 hours.

Lancaster Gate is on the Central Line in Zone 1, Paddington Station is a 5-minute walk away. 

Finish: Whitehall, near Charing Cross/Embankment & Westminster stations. All are in Zone 1. 

Drop-Outs: Hyde Park Corner, Green Park or St James’s Park tube stations, or buses.

 

Map-led, through Central London's extensive parks. With Kensington Gardens closing at dusk and off limits, we will explore Hyde Park in more detail than usual on this walk, then commence through Green Park and St. James’s Park.  

Eat/Drink: Numerous options around Westminster/Whitehall/Trafalgar Square.  

For walk directions, map, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=short.19.a